IRG tells SWC that no buildings on the campus will be over 36 feet tall.

DaVita purchased 11.53 acres of the campus from IRG for $6.78 million on July 12. Scroll down the page to read more.

IRG is waiting for city approval of a boundary line adjustment that will make a single parcel of the property within the "ring road" around the headquarters building.

Greenline Warehouse "A"

The latest proposal: A 225,950-square-foot general commodity warehouse with 264 parking spaces and 30 semi trailer stalls on 15.16 acres of land located on Weyerhaeuser Way, just north of Highway 18 and south of the campus headquarters building. The building will be 36 feet tall on the north, west and south, and 40 feet tall on the side facing east, along Weyerhaeuser Way. A tenant has not been identified.

Traffic: A study estimatesthe warehouse will generatenearly 1,000 new vehicle trips daily. This includes 199 truck trips (26 trips during the AM peak hour and 20 during the PM peak hour) and 795 passenger vehicle trips (103 during the AM peak hour and 80 during the PM peak hour).Vehicle access: One access is planned for truck traffic, to channel semis from Highway 18 to the entrance just north of the interchange. No left turns will be allowed onto Weyerhaeuser Way. Passenger vehicles will access the warehouse and its offices via two driveways off the headquarters "loop road."

Design: Craft Architects has "included timber accents and artistic reveal patterns to emphasize the history and character of the area." Office entries that are visible from adjoining streets feature "large expanses of glass, glue laminated timber framing, facade modulation, large canopies and arcades."

Environmental issues: Many significant trees will be cut, resulting in loss of animal and bird habitat in the Pacific Flyway. Impacts to on-site wetlands are proposed to be mitigated by a fee-in-lieu program administered by the Federal Way Parks and Recreation Department. There may be impacts to East Hylebos Creek, which flows through Milton and Fife to the Tacoma tide flats. Noise and air pollution from semi-trucks servicing the warehouse are a concern.

What’s next: The city says the master use permit for a building on the property remains vested, even though the original tenant withdrew and the lot boundaries have been redrawn. The permit continues through the environmental/technical review process; the city must determine that the new submission materials meet the city's requirements for additional information. Read the June 27, 2017 letter and the Oct. 7, 2016 letter. Once the application is considered "complete," the city will make a determination about whether the project can move forward.

Public input: Public comments are still being accepted by the city until the land use decision is issued. The next formal comment period will be the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review. No date has been set.

Appeals: When a final determination is made, it can be appealed to the city hearing examiner. An appeal can be filed by the developer and anyone who made comments during the public comment period last August.

Federal Way Campus Business Park

The proposal: Boundary line adjustments (BLA) submitted by Federal Way Campus LLC (Industrial Realty Group) are being processed for the property around the Tech Center at the north end of the former Weyerhaeuser Campus. On hold is the developer's binding site plan application for more than 1 million square feet of new warehouse and office space around the Tech Center. A binding site plan is similar to a subdivision — it is a permit for how the land will be divided and laid out, not a permit for the actual construction. By submitting BLAs, each warehouse project could be developed individually.

The plans: Demolishing the existing parking lots at the Tech Center, clearing many acres of forest and grading the land, then constructing three new commercial buildings with parking lot, access road, utility services and storm water detention facilities. The overall site is about 120 acres.

Environmental issues: Truck traffic, loss of forested habitat for animals and birds in the Pacific Flyway, filling of wetlands, effects on water quantity and quality in North Lake, which feeds the salmon-bearing East Hylebos Creek that flows through the campus and eventually into Puget Sound in Tacoma.

Wetlands assessment: IRG commissioned Talasaea Consultants of Woodinville to conduct a wetland study, which occurred from December 2015 through April 2016.

Talasaea identified portions of 67 wetlands and a manmade stream on the 120-acre site. The stream originates from a stormwater pond, flowing under South 336thStreet and converging with East Hylebos Creek, which flows out of North Lake, then into Weyerhaeuser Lake before flowing through Milton, Fife and Tacoma to the Puget Sound tide flats. The report states: “The stream connects to a known fish-bearing stream thus extending the possibility of the presence of fish to the artificial stream channel. This stream, though artificial in origin, should be treated as a fish-bearing stream for the purposes of critical area regulations.”

Standard buffers for the wetlands as rated in the report are 40-105 feet, while the standard buffer for a fish-bearing stream is 100 feet, the report states.

What's next: Although the city deemed the binding site plan application "complete," it is now on hold while the developer pursues the boundary line adjustments. A March 17 (10 a.m.) hearing before the city's hearing examiner on technical issues, including whether submitted a binding site plan "vests" the development before specific projects are identified.

Warehouse site plan

Three new warehouses are proposed by IRG. Click on the map for a larger view.

Forest and wetlands at risk

Thousands of trees would be cut to make way for three warehouses. Photo: Talasaea Consultants

Man-made stream channel

Over time, this man-man stream has become more naturalized, consultants say. It flows south into Weyerhaeuser Lake. Photo: Talasaea Consultants

DaVita office building

On July 12, 2017, Denver-based DaVita (Genesis KC Development, LLC) paid $6.78 million for 11.5 acres of IRG property located south of South 320th Street, according to King County records.

The four parcels, indicated in yellow on the map at right, adjoin DaVita's current corporate location at 32275 32nd Avenue S., which houses 500 employees.

DaVita has proposed a new 200,000-square-foot building in the OP-1 zone that is part of the 1994 Weyerhaeuser pre-annexation agreement with the city of Federal Way. No critical areas are identified on the sites.